Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi set the pace in Barcelona on Friday as this week’s test at the Circuit de Catalunya drew to a close. The Japanese driver was two-tenths quicker than Pastor Maldonado, who was the quickest on Thursday.
“It was another positive test day for us,” said Sauber’s Giampaolo Dall’Ara, the Swiss team’s head of track engineering. “We started in the morning with some further aero comparisons and set-up work. Before lunch Kamui did qualifying runs. Qualifying was actually a weakness of ours in the last two seasons and we have to resolve this. This obviously requires proper practice.
“Kamui started with the medium tyre compound before he used two sets of soft tyres, and in the end he got his first taste of the 2012 super-soft compound. He did his fastest lap on the second set of softs. This lap time now stands as the overall fastest for this week, but of course this doesn’t mean much because proper comparisons are never possible during testing with each team running different programmes. In the afternoon we did longer runs for race preparation.”
Maldonado had another encouraging session for Williams. He continued to set competitive times in the Renault-powered FW34. “We've had a really productive day's testing to end an excellent couple of weeks,” said Mark Gillan, the team’s chief operations engineer. “Today Pastor went through a competitive race simulation and both the car and he performed very well, ending the day with some long run comparisons. We have gathered a prodigious amount of data over more than 3500kms of testing and we will now regroup back at the factory to understand how to further improve the set-up and development direction ahead of the next Barcelona test.”
Paul di Resta was third fastest for Force India, after what the Scot described as another successful day in the VJM05. “I had a small trip through the gravel in the morning, but nothing that caused too much of an issue, although we lost half an hour of running,” he explained. “The important thing is that we still managed to do our long runs in the afternoon and I could feel the changes we made compared to yesterday. It’s given me a good impression of the car’s balance and consistency, and we’ve seen that our long run pace is improving step by step.
Unofficial Friday test times from Barcelona:
1. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber, 1:22.312, 145 Laps
2. Pastor Maldonado, Williams, 1:22.561, 134 Laps
3. Paul di Resta, Force India, 1:23.119, 101 Laps
4. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:23.200, 115 Laps
5. Felipe Masssa, Ferrari, 1:23.563, 103 Laps
6. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:23.774, 85 Laps
7. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1:23.792, 92 Laps
8. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:23.843, 139 Laps
9. Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham, 1:26.968, 70 Laps
Unofficial aggregate test times from Barcelona:
1. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber, 1:22.312, 244 Laps
2. Pastor Maldonado, Williams, 1:22.391, 240 Laps
3. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:22.608, 191 Laps
4. Sergio Perez, Sauber, 1:22.648, 151 Laps
5. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1:22.891, 183 Laps
6. Paul di Resta, Force India, 1:23.119, 184 Laps
7. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:23.180, 162 Laps
8. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:23.200, 229 Laps
9. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes, 1:23.384, 178 Laps
10. Felipe Masssa, Ferrari, 1:23.563, 187 Laps
11. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:23.590, 234 Laps
12. Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso, 1:23.618, 126 Laps
13. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:23.774, 182 Laps
14. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1:23.792, 170 Laps
15. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:23.843, 221 Laps
16. Bruno Senna, Williams, 1:25.711, 97 Laps
17. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:25.738, 117 Laps
18. Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham, 1:26.035, 101 Laps
19. Timo Glock, Marussia*, 1:26.173, 108 Laps
20. Vitaly Petrov, Caterham, 1:26.448, 178 Laps
21. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1: 26.809s, 7 Laps
22. Charles Pic, Marussia*, 1:27.343, 228 Laps
* 2011 car
“It was another positive test day for us,” said Sauber’s Giampaolo Dall’Ara, the Swiss team’s head of track engineering. “We started in the morning with some further aero comparisons and set-up work. Before lunch Kamui did qualifying runs. Qualifying was actually a weakness of ours in the last two seasons and we have to resolve this. This obviously requires proper practice.
“Kamui started with the medium tyre compound before he used two sets of soft tyres, and in the end he got his first taste of the 2012 super-soft compound. He did his fastest lap on the second set of softs. This lap time now stands as the overall fastest for this week, but of course this doesn’t mean much because proper comparisons are never possible during testing with each team running different programmes. In the afternoon we did longer runs for race preparation.”
Maldonado had another encouraging session for Williams. He continued to set competitive times in the Renault-powered FW34. “We've had a really productive day's testing to end an excellent couple of weeks,” said Mark Gillan, the team’s chief operations engineer. “Today Pastor went through a competitive race simulation and both the car and he performed very well, ending the day with some long run comparisons. We have gathered a prodigious amount of data over more than 3500kms of testing and we will now regroup back at the factory to understand how to further improve the set-up and development direction ahead of the next Barcelona test.”
Paul di Resta was third fastest for Force India, after what the Scot described as another successful day in the VJM05. “I had a small trip through the gravel in the morning, but nothing that caused too much of an issue, although we lost half an hour of running,” he explained. “The important thing is that we still managed to do our long runs in the afternoon and I could feel the changes we made compared to yesterday. It’s given me a good impression of the car’s balance and consistency, and we’ve seen that our long run pace is improving step by step.
Unofficial Friday test times from Barcelona:
1. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber, 1:22.312, 145 Laps
2. Pastor Maldonado, Williams, 1:22.561, 134 Laps
3. Paul di Resta, Force India, 1:23.119, 101 Laps
4. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:23.200, 115 Laps
5. Felipe Masssa, Ferrari, 1:23.563, 103 Laps
6. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:23.774, 85 Laps
7. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1:23.792, 92 Laps
8. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:23.843, 139 Laps
9. Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham, 1:26.968, 70 Laps
Unofficial aggregate test times from Barcelona:
1. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber, 1:22.312, 244 Laps
2. Pastor Maldonado, Williams, 1:22.391, 240 Laps
3. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:22.608, 191 Laps
4. Sergio Perez, Sauber, 1:22.648, 151 Laps
5. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1:22.891, 183 Laps
6. Paul di Resta, Force India, 1:23.119, 184 Laps
7. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:23.180, 162 Laps
8. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:23.200, 229 Laps
9. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes, 1:23.384, 178 Laps
10. Felipe Masssa, Ferrari, 1:23.563, 187 Laps
11. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:23.590, 234 Laps
12. Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso, 1:23.618, 126 Laps
13. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:23.774, 182 Laps
14. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1:23.792, 170 Laps
15. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:23.843, 221 Laps
16. Bruno Senna, Williams, 1:25.711, 97 Laps
17. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:25.738, 117 Laps
18. Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham, 1:26.035, 101 Laps
19. Timo Glock, Marussia*, 1:26.173, 108 Laps
20. Vitaly Petrov, Caterham, 1:26.448, 178 Laps
21. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1: 26.809s, 7 Laps
22. Charles Pic, Marussia*, 1:27.343, 228 Laps
* 2011 car
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| Paul di Resta, Force India |
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| Pastor Maldonado, Williams |
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| Jenson Button, McLaren |
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| Paul di Resta, Force India |
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| Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber |
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